The Wedding
by CardioQueen
Summary: Way too fluffy. Cristina and Burke's mom come together to make Cristina's life a living hell. Way too fluffy.


"It's white." Cristina muttered, staring into 23 different mirrors at herself.

Correction, at a girl that looked very similar to herself in a big fluffy white wedding gown that Cristina Yang wouldn't be caught dead in.

"I know that white wouldn't be the first choice for you, Cristina, but this is what Preston wants." Jane Burke sighed, pulling at the train of the gown.

She looked down at the woman and clenched her jaw, trying her very best to hold her tongue before she offended her soon to be mother in law.

"Cristina, it's beautiful. Why do you have to be so miserable all the time? You would make a beautiful bride if you'd just smile." Helen muttered, assisting Jane in torturing her.

"This isn't what I want. I don't want the dress and the flowers and the reception. I didn't sign up for this."

Jane Burke smiled an evil smile and shook her head, "Of course you did, dear. When you agreed to marry my Preston."

Cristina took in a deep breath and her gaze fell upon Meredith and Izzie standing off to the side in a horrid creation of silk and organza in a weird teal color with sparkly things and she hung her head, "I don't like this dress..." She rose her finger to point at Meredith and Izzie, "And I hate those."

Helen and Jane looked to each other, their arms crossed and shook their heads.

Cristina had feared at first that the two women would be at each other's throats, and though there had been some near misses, they had united in the common cause of bringing Cristina's personal hell to reality.

And they were doing a great job of it.

She hiked up her skirt and pulled all 10 feet of the train behind her into the dressing room, "I'm not wearing this dress."

"She's awfully spoiled, Helen." Jane commented dryly, pushing the door closed behind Cristina.

"I don't know where she gets it, her misery. She was never a happy little girl." Helen shook her head.

Cristina leaned against the wall of the dressing room, listening to the two women she possibly hated most in the world at this particular point in time and closed her eyes.

She'd never agreed to some huge event when she allowed Burke to slide that ring on her finger, and she'd never thought in a million years that their mothers would come together to organize something that she didn't care for. And as much as she'd gone round and round with Burke on the subject, fighting for her tiny unceremonious wedding in a courthouse where nobody else could see them, she caved to him once again.

'My mama wants us to have a normal wedding, Cristina. Can't you just try to make mama happy?' His words rang through her head.

'Why don't you marry your mama, then?' She'd snapped back at him.

A smile spread across her lips as she recounted that argument. It was a great comeback on her part, or at least she thought so.

Burke, not so much.

She pulled herself out of the dress and fought to get the horrid design back on the hanger, tulle winding around her tripping her in it's layers.

It was almost as if the dress was attacking her.

Cristina finally burst forth from the dressing room her hair in her face, and small beads of sweat forming on her forehead, "Y'know, I can't do this right now...I just can't, maybe we can come back later. Or never. Which works for me." 

Meredith appeared at her side, "Cristina, don't you think you're being just a little difficult?"

She sneered at her best friend and flipped her hair out of her face, "Can't we just go to lunch and get a drink? A strong one."

Helen scoffed, "You shouldn't eat too much or you aren't going to fit into a wedding dress at all."

"Mother!"

Jane shook her head, "On the contrary, Helen, I think your daughter is a little on the thin side. She needs to eat something." She grabbed Cristina's arm and pulled her towards the front door of the bridal shop. "I saw a quaint little cafe just a few doors down. We'll go there."

For the first time since meeting the woman, Cristina found herself liking Jane.

But only in that moment.

The women traipsed down the sidewalk towards the cafe, Cristina hanging back with Meredith and Izzie as soon as she was able to pull away from her mother and Jane and let out a long sigh.

"Burke owes me big time for this." She muttered under her breath, "He so owes me. I want to be in on every cool surgery he gets, I want to kick his ass after I'm done with my fellowship and make everybody forget that Preston Burke was a world renowned cardiothoracic surgeon."

"His name is Preston, Cristina." Jane's voice wafted towards her.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Burke. Preston. I meant to say Preston. Old habits, y'know." She nodded vigorously as they walked into the cafe.

The girls were quickly seated into a booth and Cristina found herself uncomfortably squished between the two mothers and looked pleadingly across the table at Meredith and Izzie.

"So, Cristina, are you and Preston going to have children?" Helen smiled, putting her hand on her daughter's shoulders.

"Since when do you think of me as the child-bearing type, Mother?" Cristina sighed, her forehead falling to her hands, letting out a sigh.

Before Jane could interject her opinion, Helen continued, "You and Preston seemed so upset when you lost the last baby, I thought maybe you'd try for more."

Jane raised her eyebrow in question, eerily reminding Cristina of Burke, "Lost...the baby? What on earth is she talking about Cristina?"

"Nothing. She's off her meds."

"Oh, Preston didn't tell you? It must've been over a year ago that Cristina collapsed at the hospital. She had an egg- no, that's not right. Oh, Cristina, what do you call it?"

"It was an ectopic pregnancy. She lost a fallopian tube and an ovary." Izzie volunteered.

Cristina looked up at her and if looks could kill, Izzie would've been dead and six feet under.

Jane nearly choked on her words, "You, were pregnant with my son's child, and effectively miscarried, and I've never heard about it until now?"

"What can I get you ladies to drink?" The waiter had come to reprieve Cristina from hours of questioning that was sure to ensue after her mother's informational slip.

"Long Island Ice Tea. Double." Cristina pleaded with her eyes at the waiter.

"It's only 1:00 in the afternoon, Cristina." Jane chided, "She'll have an unsweetened ice tea, and I'll have the same. Girls?"

"Ice tea is great for me." Izzie smiled, "I love iced tea."

Cristina mouthed the words 'suck up' at Izzie and shot a look to Meredith.

"I'll have coffee and water. And another coffee for Cristina." Meredith smiled at the waiter, and patiently waited as Helen ordered the same.

"So, let's talk about this baby." Jane continued as soon as the waiter walked away, "Barely a year ago, you would've been a new intern...did you know Preston before you started working for the hospital?"

"Can you talk to Bu-, I mean, Preston about it. It's all really fuzzy to me, with the anesthesia and all." Cristina lied as convincingly as she could.

"I remember." Izzie chimed in, then looked down as Cristina shot her another look, "Oh wait...no, that was somebody else. I'm sorry, Mrs. Burke."

"Please, dear. Call me Jane." She smiled at Izzie and turned to Cristina, "This is definitely something we're going to follow up on later."

Cristina wanted to disappear, and she thought to herself if she just concentrated on it hard enough, that maybe she would.

"Preston tells me that the two of you have selected a very nice church just outside of Seattle to get married in?" Jane finally let go of the baby subject and moved on, trying to keep the conversation going.

"A church?" Helen questioned, "Oh, no. We're Jewish. She can't get married in a church."

"Well, we're Presbyterian, so he can't get married in a synagogue." Jane protested.

"We were looking at a chapel in some garden thing or whatever. Something that is non-denominational. Neutral." Cristina interjected, "Not a church, not a synagogue. Something neutral." She repeated herself, hoping to get her point across.

"Well, I hope that it's not too far away for the caterers. We have to pay extra for mileage." Jane sighed, bringing her fingers to massage the bridge of her nose.

"About the caterers..." Cristina sighed, "Bu-, I mean, Preston and I decided that maybe a smaller reception would be better if we really had to have one. We don't want to do the whole dinner and dancing reception. We just want a small reception with a few close friends-"

"You want a small reception." Jane sighed, "Preston wants an extraordinary event, and you want to get 'hitched in a courthouse'."

Meredith and Izzie snickered across the table as they watched their friend being tormented across the table, knowing that they would have blackmail fodder for years to come.

Before Cristina could answer to Jane's accusation, her phone rang and she pulled the pink Razr from her pocket to see that it was Burke, "I have to take this. It's Bu-" She sighed, "I mean Preston."

Jane moved from the booth as Cristina clicked the phone open and quickly slid out beside her, "I'll be right back, I promise."

She pressed the phone to her ear, walking away as quickly as she could, "Baby...I hate you right now."

"I've always wanted to hear you say those three words, Cristina." He replied dryly into her ear, "It can't be that bad."

Burke gazed over a jewelry display case with Cristina's step-father Saul, and his father standing over his shoulder, watching carefully to see what selection he would make.

"It's bad, honey. They made me try on big fluffy wedding dresses, and they put Meredith and Izzie in these god awful teal things with scratchy stuff sticking up from the shoulders, and...and...honey, I just can't take this. I can't. Why do we have to do this?" She pleaded into his ear.

"Because it's what mama wants Cristina. Just three more weeks, and we'll be off on our way to St. John, and you can forget that any of this ever happened." He spoke soothingly into her ear.

"What are you going to do to make me forget this? Club me over the head with a coconut?" She replied sarcastically, sinking into a chair near the door of the restaurant, her eyes falling on her car in the parking lot.

She could leave now and they'd never know.

"I can think of some things, but nothing I'm at liberty to speak of at the moment." His gaze shifted to Saul, who was still studying him closely.

Burke walked away from the two men and spoke low into the phone, "Cristina, just do this for me. Just play along, and play nice, and I promise I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"It's going to take a lot more than a promise to make it up to me." She muttered and found Jane standing over her.

"Cristina, we're waiting on you to order lunch." She frowned, "Tell Preston you'll talk to him at home."

She watched as she walked away, "That was satan. She wants me to go so that they can order."

"Cristina." He chided lightly, "Go eat. Enjoy yourself. And I'll see you at home tonight."

"Oh yeah. I'll enjoy myself. I'll enjoy myself a great deal as I dodge questions from your mama..." She emphasized the word 'mama' in a mocking tone, "About the baby."

He swallowed hard, "The baby...you mean, _the_ baby?"

"Yeah. That'd be the one. The only one there ever was." She muttered.

"Cristina, I'm sorry. I meant to tell her." He sighed into the phone, suddenly feeling a bit sorry for her.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're sorry. Whatever. You go do your man stuff, be happy. Enjoy my easy going step-father while I sit in the pits of hell with your mother and my mother and the two giggling school girls that seem to take pleasure in my misery."

"I love you." He spoke quietly into the phone.

"No. I don't think you do." She shot back at him.

"Say it, or I'll keep calling you, and interrupting your meal, which in turn might upset mama." He threatened, a grin across his face.

"I love you too." She exhaled, "Ass."

He shook his head as he hung his phone up and put it back in the pocket of his jeans and turned to face the two men, staring at him dumbfounded. "Cristina."

It didn't take anymore explanation for them and the men chuckled.

"You've got your hands full with her, son." Donald set a hand on his son's shoulder.

"That you do, Preston. Cristina has always been on the stubborn side." Saul nodded in agreement with Donald, "But you have to treat her right. Even if she drives you crazy. She's my step-daughter, and I cannot give her to you unless you can promise me that."

"Of course sir." Burke nodded, his gaze falling back to the rings in the display case, finally settling on a simple gold band and motioning for the jeweler to come over. "I'd like to see that one, please." He pointed at the band and then suddenly felt unsure as he heard the two men next to him clear their throats.

"It's very...simple." Saul remarked, looking at the band in disgust.

"It's quite simpleton, son." Donald agreed.

"But, Cristina doesn't like flashy things. She doesn't want the same things that other girls want." Burke protested, his eyes falling upon the gaudier rings that dripped with more diamonds than what Cristina would ever know what to do with.

"Don't let her fool you, son. Women love diamonds." Donald pointed at a band that looked like a giant diamond with a hole in it. "That is what she'd want.

"Not to be trite, Preston, but diamonds are a girl's best friend, as they always say." Saul added.

He placed his hands on his hips, and his eyes settled on a band with diamonds inlayed into it, "May I see that one please?"

The jeweler nodded, pulling it from the case and placing the tiny band in his hand, "A wise selection, sir."

"Much better, son."

He looked at the band in doubt.

Sure, it was a beautiful ring, but it wasn't Cristina's ring and he let out a long sigh, "I just don't think that I can buy this right now."

Saul raised his eyebrow, "Is it too expensive?"

Donald scoffed, "Certainly not, do you have any idea how much my son makes in a year?"

Burke looked up, "Dad. Now is not the time." He warned, "Nor the place."

Donald shoved his hands in his pockets and muttered something about him being too much like his mother.

He handed the ring back to the jeweler, "I'll come back later when I'm able to make a better decision. I need to talk to my fiancé first."

The men walked from the store and Burke had the urge to call Cristina and let her know that he felt the same frustration that she was feeling in that very moment, and he could understand where she was coming from.

But he didn't want to make it harder on her, because as bad as buying a ring with two men who didn't know Cristina from any other girl, it was nothing compared to what his mother could do.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Much later that evening Burke slid quietly into the door of their apartment, expecting to find her sleeping, or passed out from an evening of too much alcohol trying to numb herself to the pain of having to deal with her mother and his mother, but was surprised instead, to find her sitting on the floor of their apartment, tearing papers from bridal magazines, her wild black curls spread over her face, more untamed than usual.

"Picking out dresses that you like?" He asked quietly, not wanting to see her choices for the sake of tradition.

"Ripping out the ones that I don't like." She muttered, tearing another sheet out.

As he approached her, he could see another pile of bridal magazines behind her, dramatically thinner than when first purchased. "Okay...are there any dresses that you do like?"

She looked up to him, "Seriously? Burke, I'm sorry, _Preston_, do you think that I want this?"

"You do not have to call me Preston when she's not around if you choose not to, Cristina." He chuckled, sitting on the floor next to her, pushing a pile of crumpled ads out of his way.

"I don't want this." She sighed, leaning against him.

"You don't want to marry me?"

"No. I don't want the big frou frou wedding, with the big frou frou dress, and the frou frou flowers. I don't want it." She pushed over a pile of bridal magazines, "I don't want this."

He kissed the top of her head, running his fingers through her hair, "What do you want?"

"You. Me. St. John. No mothers. No frou frou. An official marriage license without the frou frou." Her words were disjointed and bitter as she picked up another magazine, impatiently flipping through pages.

"You, me and St. John comes after the wedding." He reminded her, pulling the magazine from her hand.

"This isn't how I pictured it, Burke. It's not. I pictured us in a dingy courtroom with an ugly judge. I don't want to be the blushing bride in the overpriced dress."

"I understand this, Cristina. I think you've made your point clear."

"Then why are we doing this?" She muttered, pulling the magazine away from him, glancing down at the pages as she quickly flipped through them.

"Because it is what our mothers want." 

"Since when has our mothers had anything to do with our marriage? Our relationship?" She pulled a piece of paper from the magazine and crumpled it in her hands.

"Cristina."

"And what's the big deal about this dumb dress thing anyway. I can't think with my mother and your mother hovering over me like two bumbling idiots, telling me how unhappy and miserable I look. One saying I'm too fat, one saying I'm too thin. One saying I should straighten my hair, one saying I should have it up. One saying that too much make up would make me look like a cheap prostitute, the other one saying that I wouldn't ever wear make up anyway." She pulled another page from the magazine and tossed it behind her.

He pulled a magazine from the pile into his lap and opened it. "Would it help if I looked with you?"

"Your mother and my mother would have an aneurysm. They're all traditional or whatever. It's bad luck for you to see the dress, it's bad luck for me to see you the night before the wedding. Everything is bad luck. Like they want us to fail."

"Who says that they have to know that I helped you?" He mumbled, thumbing through the glossy pages, countless blushing brides lying before him.

She looked to up to him, a cocky grin curling the corners of her lips, "You're going to look through bridal magazines?"

"If it will make you happy...if it will make this easier for you." He nodded, "Then I'll do whatever I can."

She pushed the magazine away, focusing on the one in his lap, "They're all so...not me."

He flipped through the pages quietly with her resting against his arm, making noises of disgust every once in a while, and he'd chuckle lightly and move on.

Try as he might, though the dresses weren't as bad as he could imagine them to be, he couldn't picture his Cristina in one of those dresses. It wasn't her.

Just like the ring wasn't her.

And the ceremony wasn't her.

Oddly enough though, all that he wanted out of the entire ordeal was her.

He pushed the magazine from his lap and pulled her closer, his arm sliding up and down her shoulder, "I'm sure we can find something."

She pulled the magazine back across to her, absently skimming through it, "I don't want some long piece of cloth dragging behind me, and I don't want long sleeves, and I don't want bunchy stuff, and I don't want beads or sequins or glittery things."

"Do you have something against glittery things?" He joked, trying to make light of the situation.

"Yes."

She started to pull a page out when Burke laid his hand over hers, "What about that?"

Her eyes fell upon a white satin dress that barely swept the floor. There was no pouf to the skirt it was a simple cascade from a simple waistline and there were no shiny things. It was off the shoulder with short sleeves and purple, pink and blue flowers embroidered at the bottom of the dress, working it's way up the skirt in a trail towards the waist of the dress.

She smiled and looked at him, "It's the best option I've found yet. But it's got flowers."

"I found it. And flowers are better than shiny things." He reminded her, and held up a picture of a dress that seemed to be covered in sequins and pearls.

"Okay, so I guess we found the dress." She sighed, pulling the page from the magazine and tossed it aside.

"Now it's your turn to help me." He rose from the floor, stepping over the discarded pages, and pulling her up next to him.

"And how can I do that? I didn't think there was anything you needed help with. You don't have to wear a damn dress, or do your hair, or pick out some sort of significant jewelry. You just have to wear a tux, which is pretty damn close to a suit, which I know you've worn them before, and stand up there while I do all the work."

"And I have to buy your ring." He wrapped and arm around her waist, leading her to their bedroom.

"That shouldn't be that hard." She remarked dryly, pulling away from him and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Oh, but it is. My father and your step father seem to think that you want diamonds. That 'diamonds are a girl's best friend'."

"Yeah, if you're a gold digger or a show off." She muttered, scooting to her side of the bed, simultaneously pulling the covers up over her body.

"Well, never mind then."

"What?" She questioned as he slid into bed next to her, and she laid her head against his chest, listening quietly to the rhythmic sound of his heart beating.

"You already answered my question."

"Okay...so, you helped me with my dress, I helped you with the ring. Two things down, two hundred things to go."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"So we've settled on your dress then?" Jane crossed her arms, "It's not very traditional."

"I'm not traditional." She sighed, looking in the mirror smoothing it out, feeling slightly happy about the choice that Burke had helped her make.

"If it's what you want, but I don't think Preston will be pleased with it."

Cristina smiled inwardly, thinking about the fact that _Preston_ was the one who helped her pick it out.

"That brings us to the bridesmaid's dresses." Jane frowned, "I normally would've thought that perhaps the black dresses would be nice, with a black tie themed wedding, but that's out with your choice of...gown."

Cristina traipsed across the shop in her dress, flipping through racks as tension began to brew within her again. "They can wear these."

She pulled a light blue dress from the rack made from the same simple satin material, with no shiny things on it and no weird skirts trailing from it, she then proceeded to shove one into Meredith's hands and one into Izzie's hands. "Go put them on. Now."

Helen looked at her daughter astonished, "Is that how you talk to your friends?"

"Mother. I'm tired. I'm having a wedding planned for me that..." She paused, trying to find the right words, "I wasn't expecting to have. I just want to get this part overwith."

Jane perused the veils and other accessories lining the walls of the store and pulled a veil from the rack, "Here, Cristina. Try this one on." 

"I'm not wearing that." She scoffed, "There's no way I'm wearing a veil."

"What's wrong with a veil?" her mother questioned her as Jane placed it back on the rack. "It's a sweet thing, when the man pulls the veil from his wife's face to kiss her."

Cristina brought her hand to her forehead in frustration, "I am trying very hard to go along with this idea that you guys have for this big ceremony, but can you please just accept the fact that there are things that I don't want? That I'm not going to do, even if I knew it would make you the happiest two women in the world? This day belongs to Burke and I, and we've relinquished that to you, so can I please choose what I want to wear and what I want to put on my head or not put on my head? Please?"

Helen opened her mouth in protest, but Jane shot her a look and she closed it.

Izzie and Meredith emerged from the dressing room, their gowns on and Cristina let out a sigh of relief, "Thank God. Let's get these things altered so we can move on."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"I'm telling you Preston, that is not what my Cristina would want." Saul interjected as Burke purchased the simple gold band he'd originally selected.

"But it is what my Cristina would want." Burke sighed, taking the small bag presented to him.

Donald shot Saul a look, proud that he'd taught his son something about being sharp with his words. "Where are we going now, son?"

"We're going to look..." Burke paused to let out a deep breath, "at flowers."

The men behind him laughed, finally after gathering enough composure to ask Saul laid a hand on his shoulder, "Flowers?" 

"Yes. I told Cristina that I would meet her and her mother and mama at the flower shop." He sighed, knowing he wasn't going to hear the end of it from the two men.

Saul let out a boisterous laugh as they got into the car, "Leave it to Cristina to have you 'whipped' as some would say before the vows are even uttered."

Donald chuckled in not so silent agreement, pulling his seatbelt around him.

"I'm not 'whipped'. She's just very...frustrated with the situation, and I said I'd help her." He sighed, picking up his phone to dial Cristina.

She picked it up on the first ring, "Bur- I mean Preston..." She paused, sliding a glance to his mother, "Honey, where are you? You were supposed to be here 20 minutes ago."

Her voice was screaming 'help me' and 'get here now' all at the same time, and he could almost envision the false smile plastered to her face.

"I'm about 10 minutes away, I had to wrap up a little bit of business." He spoke into the phone, feeling his father and soon to be father-in-law's eyes, studying him, "Besides, they're just flowers...do you really need my help?"

She walked away from the girls, "Burke, I swear to God, if you don't get here, and get here fast that I will stab somebody with some trimming shears, they're all girly. And talking about roses and carnations and ivy and all kinds of crap that I don't care about, and I need you here to make it through this without ending up in prison for first degree murder."

He let a smile curl the corner of his lips and he nodded, "Alright, I'll be there shortly, Cristina."

"Thank you."

He could hear the relief in her voice, "Say it."

"I shouldn't have to, seeing as your late." She protested walking back towards Meredith and Izzie who were sniffing at some sort of hideously ugly flower.

He didn't say anything back, and tried to restrain a smirk as she let out an exaggerated sigh, "Fine. I love you."

She hung up the phone and looked to Izzie who was snickering at her, "You are so whipped."

"I'm not whipped." Cristina muttered, picking up one of the hideous flowers in her hands, suppressing the overwhelming urge to break it in half.

"You're whipped." Meredith shook her head, and pulled her back to the flowers, "Now...this isn't that hard, Cristina. They're just flowers. Think of them as...scalpels. And you have to figure out which scalpel goes with which."

"Bad analogy." Izzie muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, that was pretty bad." Cristina grinned.

"Whatever, but it's not that hard."

"Cristina, what about lilies and orchids for your bouquet? They're very pretty, and they can use some bright and vibrant dyes on the white lilies to make them match your dress..." Helen commented, toying with some flowers.

"No, no dyed flowers. I think a simple bouquet of white and pink roses would be more than sufficient in this case, Helen." Jane shook her head, her tone as diplomatic as possible.

"But the bridesmaids are in blue, don't you think they should match?" Helen shot back.

"We may have to get new dresses, because they need to match the colors, and blue really isn't going to work, Cristina, dear...are you attached to those dresses?"

Cristina's eyes widened and she walked away from the group of girls towards the front of the shop, her head spinning until she focused on Burke walking in the door, pulling his sunglasses from his face. "Oh thank God." She muttered and moved quickly to him, but stood a couple of inches back. "Saul...Mr. Burke, they're in back. You should go. Be with them, y'know. For a minute."

The men took heed of her statement as more of a direction than a request and quickly left Burke's side and when she was sure he was gone, she fell into his chest, "You have got to get this thing called off. It's too much."

He raised his arms for a moment, then they came to settle around her, and he kissed her forehead. "Only a couple more weeks of this, and then it can be over. I'm here to help you, remember."

She looked up to him, "The girls say I'm whipped, and though I protest, I'm starting to feel it because I'm doing this for you, because it's sure as hell not my dream wedding."

He smirked a little, "Yeah, well, your step-father says I'm whipped for looking at flowers."

A genuine smile spread across her lips for the first time that day, "That's because you are."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Cristina." Burke whispered, trying to rouse her from sleep, his hand running over her bare chest.

"Not again." She mumbled, pulling away from his hand, tearing at the sheet to cover herself up.

He pulled the sheet away, leaving her exposed on the bed and she sat straight up, "Okay, This? This isn't funny. I'm naked, and I'm cold, and you're being down right mean."

She tugged the blanket back and fell back against her pillow, her eyes wide open.

"You need to get up. I have a surprise for you." He brushed a strand of hair from her face.

"A surprise? Our mothers went away, and the whole big frou frou wedding this is off?" She questioned overly optimistic.

"No."

"Then it's not worth getting out of bed at eight in the morning when you kept me up all night." She grumbled, pressing her face into her pillow.

"What if I could promise you that it would make this whole ordeal much easier to deal with? That it wouldn't make it seem like such a big deal?" He ran his hands up and down her side, lightly tickling her.

"How are you going to do that?"

"That's the surprise. Now get up."

He pulled the sheet off of the bed once more and she pressed her lips together in a scowl, "This so better be worth it."

After she showered and dressed she met him in the living room and he handed her a travel mug with coffee in it, "We're running late. We need to go pick up Derek and Meredith."

"What do they have to do with making this better?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Surprise." He reminded her gently, pushing her out the door and pulling it closed behind him.

He watched her quietly trudge down the stairs and a smile spread across his lips at the very thought of his plan, and silently he patted himself on the back for coming up with such a creative fix for their problem.

Cristina pulled a planner from her satchel once she was in the car and Burke looked to her with raised eyebrow, "A planner? Can you tell me what you've done with Cristina, because Cristina does not carry planners." 

"Oh shut it. It's another one of those hoops your mother has me jumping through like a pedigree poodle." 

"And what's it for?"

She flipped through it quietly for a moment, biting her lip, "It's my list of crap to do before the wedding. I've got the dress, the shoes, the alterations, the bridesmaids gowns, we did the flowers, and today? Today I'm supposed to go find somebody to do my hair up into some extravagant up do that beauty pageant contestants wear because your mother and my mother have both agreed that would look the best with my unconventional dress."

"Your dress is fine."

"Yeah, about that, your mom hates it. So, thank you for that." She muttered, jamming the planner back into her bag.

"Cristina."

"I'm sorry. I'll stop. I'm the happy blushing bride? See, I'm happy?" She motioned to a false smile plastered on her face.

They pulled into the driveway of Meredith's house and found Derek and Meredith sitting on the porch, "I told you we were late."

Meredith climbed into the car behind Burke and handed him an eye mask, "I brought what you asked for."

He took it in his hand and passed it Cristina, "Put this on."

She moved back away from him and the mask, "What, are you going to take me to a field and put me out of my misery?"

"It's a surprise, Cristina. I can't have you see where we're going." He reached over and placed it over her eyes, and brushed a kiss on her lips. "It's just for a little while, then you can take it off, and everything will be 100 better."

"You promise?" She looked away from him, poking at the mask on her face.

"I promise." He assured her as he looked to Derek and nodded gently.

Meredith chattered along the way about different salons that Cristina could go to, and Cristina blew her off, opting instead to listen to her iPod until Burke pulled it from her hands, "She's trying to help."

Cristina shivered as she felt the car come to a halt and heard everyone getting out of the car, "Can I take this dumb thing off yet? I'm pretty sure that I look stupid."

She felt Burke pull at her hand and lead her from the car, "You can in just a couple of minutes, now be careful because there are some stairs here."

"Stairs. That means we're in public. So instead of you maiming me, I can die from embarassment because I'm walking around in public with a mask on my face." She continued with the negativistic statements.

She felt herself ushered through a series of hallways that left a great echo between her boots and Meredith's heels and she wondered where she was at, finally they made a turn into a small room and the floor turned from a harder surface to carpeted one and Burke turned her so that she was facing him.

"You can take it off in just a second." He whispered low, tracing his finger under her jaw line, "I can't stop this wedding from taking place, but I can take the pressure off of you by doing this, giving you what you want."

She nodded gently, giving into his silky voice, "Okay."

He pulled the mask from her eyes and she still had them closed, afraid to see what was around her, what he had done, and leaned in close, "It's okay...Cristina, open your eyes."

One at a time she opened them and found herself surrounded by legal books, a large regal desk in front of them and she smiled, "Where are we?" Though she already knew the answer.

"We are at the courthouse."

"Burke..." Her voice trailed off as she searched for the words.

"I thought that if I married you today, here, with nobody but two witnesses to sign the certificate, that it would take pressure off of you, that it would make the big ceremonious wedding less stressful for you because you and I would know that we're already married." He explained quietly, pulling her into his arms.

"What about your mother? She'll know because she'll see the certificate is already signed." Cristina put up a superficial protest.

"I got a second copy for show."

"What about rings? I don't have your ring...I haven't even bought it yet."

"We do not need rings to tell us we're married, Cristina."

She looked around the room, her heart racing, "So it's really going to happen? Today? Now?"

"If that is what will make you happy."

She felt the words coming from her lips before she had time to stop them and twist them into her own sarcastic way of saying it would, "Nothing would make me happier."

He opened the door of the chambers and Meredith and Derek stepped in along side an old man with graying hair, wrinkles weathering an angry face until he smiled and shook Burke's hand, "Preston, my boy...I have to say that I never thought I'd see the day that you'd settle down."

"Benjamin, you're seeing it. I appreciate you doing this for me on such short notice, but things have gotten to be a little out of hand." He wrapped an arm around Cristina's waist, "This is my fiancée, Cristina Yang. She's an intern at Seattle Grace."

Cristina looked to the man, curiosity in her eyes, "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, young lady. Preston here saved my life almost 3 years ago, and I always told him if he needed me for anything at all, that he could give me a call, and now..."

"I'm calling in the favor." Burke grinned from ear to ear.

"You're calling in the favor." Benjamin stepped behind the desk, "Are you ready, Ms. Yang?"

She looked at Burke, love shining in her eyes, "I'm ready."

They turned to face each other and he clasped her hands in his, as the judge began to speak, "Friends, we have come together today to witness the marriage of Preston Xavier Burke and Cristina Elisabeth Yang. The legal requirements of this state having been fulfilled, and the license for their marriage being present, I must ask of each party if they come of their own free will and accord."

Cristina shot a glance at Meredith as she heard her mumble her middle name in question, but then focused on Burke once again.

"Preston, do you come to this union of your free will, and with the intention of being faithful in marriage to Cristina as long as you shall live?"

He grinned at her, rubbing her hands still in his. "I do."__

"Cristina, do you come to this union of your free will, and with the intention of being faithful in Marriage to Preston as long as you shall live?"

Cristina feigned doubt momentarily, then smiled at him. "I do."

The judge smiled at Cristina's act and continued, "Preston, repeat after me. I, Preston..."

He swallowed hard, "I, Preston."

"Do take you, Cristina, to be my lawfully wedded wife."

"Do take you Cristina, to be my lawfully wedded wife. I promise from this day forward to be your faithful husband, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as I shall live." He finished without having to have the words read to him.

He knew what was in his heart.

The judge looked to Cristina, "He was prepared." He joked lightly, "Repeat after me, honey; I, Cristina, do take you, Preston, to be my lawfully wedded husband."

Her voice was quiet and tender as she repeated the words, "I, Cristina, do take you, Burke, to be my lawfully wedded husband."

"I promise from this day forward, to be your faithful wife, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as I shall live."

She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, "I promise, from this day forward to be your faithful wife, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as I shall live." 

Benjamin smiled, and looked to his small audience, "We have come together in this place and have heard the willingness of Preston and Cristina to be joined in marriage. They have come of their free will and in our hearing have made a covenant of faithfulness. Therefore, by the power vested in me by the state of Washington, I pronounce that they are husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Their lips had met before he could finish his sentence, a soft and sweet kiss unlike they had shared before. They pulled apart, still locked in each other's gaze.

"I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Preston Burke."

"You had to sneak that in there, didn't you?" She elbowed him in the side lightly, jokingly.

He bent in and gave her one more quick kiss, "Did you have doubts?"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Cristina errantly ran a finger over her ring finger, feeling as though it was empty, as though that extra band should be there to make it feel real that she was actually a married woman now.

Off the market.

Unavailable.

She smiled to herself as she thought about the strings that he pulled to make her happy, and in a rare moment, fully realized the extent to which he loved her.

And to the extent to which she loved him.

"Hello? Earth to Cristina?" Meredith snapped her fingers at her, sitting in the beauty salon chair next to her.

"Hmm?" She mumbled, still thinking about the fact that she was no longer Cristina Yang.

Cristina Yang was cold, cruel, complacent, angry and bitter. She was neurotic and untouchable.

No, she was Cristina Burke. Cristina Burke was still angry and bitter at work, still cold, still very clinical and sarcastic. A smart ass in a class all her own. But she was also giving and forgiving, loving.

Cristina Burke could admit that she loved, even if it took a little pressure from her husband.

Husband.

The word sent chills through her spine.

She had a husband now. Preston Burke was her husband.

It sounded so funny to her.

"Up or down?" Izzie sighed, shaking her. "Do you want the hair up or down?"

"Whatever." Cristina replied absently, "It doesn't really matter. What was Jane saying that she wanted?"

Izzie scoffed, "Seriously? Did you just ask what Burke's 'mama' wants? Since when have you cared what she wants?"

Cristina frowned, "Whatever, I don't."

Meredith snickered at her friend, "I think that she said that she thought if it was up that it'd be much more...what was the word she used...oh yes, refined."

The stylist tugged at Cristina's wild curls bringing her back to reality, "Hey, hey...are you trying to rip my hair out?"

"Sorry, but your hair is frizzy and it needs to be tamed before I can do anything with it." The stylist complained, continuing to tug at her hair.

Cristina pulled her head away, "My hair is fine...I'll just wear it down. Burke likes it down, I like it down, why the hell should I wear it up?"

"At least let me put a conditioning treatment in it to tame down that mess." The stylist argued, placing her hands on her hips.

Sensing Cristina's dislike for the stylist growing Meredith intervened, "Maybe you could work on mine first, because she's got a headache, and she's had a really long day."

Cristina began to protest that her hair was fine for a second time and Izzie kicked her chair, "Yeah, she'll be ready after you're done with us."

The stylist shook her head and moved to Meredith muttering something about stuck up brides and began to tug at her hair, "So stringy and thin...I don't know how you people expect me to work with this?" 

"Hey. This thing, you're doing? Complaining about our hair? We're surgeons. Not beauty queens. And we're paying you, so shut it." Cristina finally snapped standing from the chair.

Izzie slapped her on the arm, "Be nice."

"I don't have to be nice, y'know. I'm sitting here listening to her complain about hair and Meredith's hair, and of course, she'd never complain about yours because you're Dr. Model, and I could be sitting at home with my hus-" She pressed her lips shut quickly.

"Burke." Meredith finished her sentence, eyeballing her in disbelief.

The stylist tossed her comb on the counter, her lips pursed together in anger. "I'm going to go get your conditioning treatment."

Izzie looked to the two girls, sensing that they were hiding something and stepped in between the two of them, "Seriously, we are not having an 'ooh, we're best friends' moment right now. You're going to tell me what's up."

Cristina shrugged, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"There's nothing going on." Meredith followed up Cristina's statement.

"Bull. Spill or I spill the beans about the baby." Izzie threatened, "And don't think I won't do it."

Cristina's mouth gaped open, anger rising in her body, "You did not just threaten me."

"I threatened you." She confirmed, standing over Cristina.

"She got married." Meredith finally mumbled nearly under her breath, looking away from Cristina and Izzie.

"Meredith!" Cristina snapped, "You're supposed to keep your mouth shut. Now that Stevens knows everybody is going to know, and I will never hear the end of it from Burke's mom."

"Preston." Izzie snickered, her inappropriate reactions shining through, "And what the hell do you mean you got married?"

"Married, as in, I'm married."

"The wedding isn't for another week and a half, how can you get married?" Izzie pressed, her naiveté working strongly against her, keeping her from reaching the point.

"Can't you just accept the fact that you know we're married and get on with it, seriously?" Cristina muttered, falling back into the uncomfortable salon chair.

"We took a trip to the courthouse earlier, okay. But you can't say anything. I mean it." Meredith finally elaborated.

"That's just stupid. Why would you get married before you get married?"

"Yes, Cristina, why would you 'get married before you get married'?" Jane stepped up behind them, a black salon smock masking crossed arms.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The car ride back to the apartment was silent and Cristina silently cursed Izzie and Meredith from abandoning her to go with Helen to pick up the bridesmaids dresses and leaving her alone with Burke's mama. She shifted uncomfortably as she felt Jane's gaze fall upon her, cold and angry, and she parted her lips to speak, but thought better of it and closed her mouth again.

"Why would you do this, Cristina?" She finally broke the silence, venom dripping from her voice, "All that Preston wanted was a nice traditional service, and you had to ruin it for him. You had to make things difficult."

Cristina fought the urge to tell her that it was all Burke's idea, that he was the one who blindfolded her and dragged her to the courthouse to marry her in secret, but she thought better of it, "I'm sorry."

A forced apology.

"When Preston told me that he was marrying you, I had to admit that I was a bit taken aback- you're not at all what I expected or wanted in a daughter-in-law. You're brazen, abrupt, and too stubborn for my tastes. And you're too career focused. You don't care about what Preston wants out of his private life, you're selfish and career driven. All work." She lectured, pulling into the garage of their apartment. "But I acquiesced. I accepted that Preston wanted to marry you, and I've been good and kind and I've held my tongue when I disagree, and you do this to repay my kindness?"

"It was my idea. My decision. It was a poor decision, if I could take it back I would." She sighed, wondering why she was covering Burke's ass on this.

"So you would divorce my son to make me happy?" She raised her eyebrow in question as she pulled into the parking spot and put the car into park.

"That's not what I said." Cristina argued back, raising her voice for the first time as she pulled herself out of the car. She walked away from her, her blood boiling, trying to restrain everything that she wanted to say, but the more that Jane continued, the more she wanted to lash out at her.

Her boots loudly echoed through the stairwell as she climbed the stairs to the apartment, Jane following closely in her proximity, but not loud enough to drown out her mother-in-law's voice, "Why can't you just settle for what he wants for a change?"

Cristina reached for the door of the apartment, choosing not to reply and pushed it open to find Burke setting at the table playing chess with Saul while Donald watched observantly and she rolled her eyes, "We have a problem."

"Problem?" He looked up to her, a smile on his face, "Did you burn the salon to the ground?"

Jane stepped inside the door and laid her bag on the bureau, "So, Preston, honey...when did you plan to tell me that you were a married man?"

Burke clenched his jaw to prevent it from dropping open in surprise and he felt Saul's gaze come upon him.

"What does she mean married man?" Saul sputtered, "You're married and you didn't tell Cristina?"

"Saul, he's married to me." Cristina blurted out, "Chill out."

"You're not married yet." He protested, his hands firmly grasping the edge of the table.

"We got married this morning by a justice." Burke finally spoke, "I pulled Cristina out of bed and took her to the courthouse because I wanted to make her happy. It was my idea."

Jane scoffed, "She already told me it was her idea. I know that you'd never do that, son."

Burke shot a glance at Cristina in question and moved to her side, pride swelling within him, figuring that she would've ratted him out in a heartbeat if anyone figured it out, "Cristina...can I talk to you for a moment? In private?"

She felt herself being drug into their bedroom and he pulled the door quietly closed behind them. She waited nervously, waiting for him to lecture her in anger for saying anything, for spilling the beans, though it wasn't her fault.

What she didn't expect was for him to press her against the wall and kiss her.

She pushed him away and held back a smile, "What was that for?"

He shrugged, "I just figured you might need it. I know my mother."

"She's evil, and she hates me." Cristina sighed, leaning against him.

"She doesn't hate you, she's just my mama, Cristina. You'll get to know each other and you'll love each other." 

"I've dealt with her for a couple weeks now, and there is no love there."

"How did she find out anyway?" He questioned quietly, hearing the stirs outside the bedroom door of his mother complaining rampantly about the wedding.

"Meredith told Izzie and Izzie announced it to the world practically and your mother just happened to pop up at the most inconvenient of times. I told her it was my idea, which she'd already assumed." She pulled away from him and crossed the room to fall onto the edge of the bed. "This really sucks."

He laid his hand on the doorknob, "I'm going to do some damage control."

"Burke, I told her I did it. Just let it be. She can hate me or whatever, I don't care." She lied, the words that Jane had thrown at her searing through her recent memory, making her feel like she didn't deserve Burke.

He pulled the door open and closed it behind him, "Mama...do you want to go pick up some lunch with me?"

"I just got back, Preston. I'm really tired." She sighed, "And I think I just need a moment to absorb what's going on here with you and Cristina. I can't believe that she talked you into such a preposterous thing."

He laid his hand on her shoulder, "Come with me."

She looked up to her son and nodded slightly, "Okay, Preston."

The two left the apartment, leaving the father's to speculate.

Donald smiled, "I don't believe it."

"Believe what?" Saul questioned, setting up the chess board for the two of them to play.

"He's never stood up to his mother like that. Not for anything or anybody, but I have a feeling that's about to change."

Cristina crept out of the room and walked into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee, "Where'd Burke go?"

"To war." Saul joked lightly.

She looked at Donald, "What does he mean? He didn't get into it with Jane did he? Because I really don't think it's..."

"It's necessary." Donald interrupted. "You know as well as I do that it wasn't your idea."

"It was too." She protested quickly, "Why don't you think it was my idea."

"Because I saw that look on Preston's face whenever you took the blame. I know my son, Cristina. And I know that he planned that." Donald pulled back a chair for her to sit next to him and she did so quietly, listening to him talk.

She looked to the two men, "This wedding thing. The big wedding isn't what I wanted, but he wanted to make her happy. And he was only trying to make things easier on me."

"I know." Donald assured her, "I've told you before to hang in there, and I'll tell you again. She'll come around."

He moved the board so that it was between the two of them, "I don't think Saul will mind if I challenge you to a game of chess instead of him?"

Saul smiled, "On the contrary, I think I'll take great pleasure in you losing to my Cristina."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Absurd. It's completely absurd." Jane Burke muttered from the passenger side of the car.

"What's absurd mama?" Burke questioned, already knowing the answer.

"That you let this girl talk you into marrying her before the wedding, that she made you ruin everything. I'm really starting to question your judgement, Preston." She frowned at him.

"It was my idea, mama." He protested.

"Preston, I know you better than that. You wouldn't do something like that. That's not what you wanted."

"No, it's what _we_ wanted." He cut her off, "Cristina and I didn't have a large wedding in mind whenever we discussed the marriage, but you and Helen seemed to want it, and I couldn't disappoint you, mama, so I talked Cristina into the ceremony for you."

Jane crossed her arms over her chest, "You expect me to believe that you didn't want the ceremony? That you wanted a common courthouse wedding?"

"What I wanted was Cristina. Anyway that I could get her."

Jane swallowed hard, "It was your idea?"

"It was my idea."

She looked away from him, "I guess there's no reason for a ceremony now. We'll just call the whole thing off." Her heart sunk a little in her chest. Maybe she wanted it more than anybody else.

He chuckled, "With as much effort as it took me to persuade Cristina that it wouldn't be that bad, there is no way I would call off the ceremony now."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"My daughter was pregnant before she was married, my daughter is married before she was married, how did I raise such a rebel?" Helen Rubenstein was effectively whining as Cristina pulled on her gown for the final fitting.

Eight days.

It had been eight long days and though Jane had finally dropped it, Helen wore on and on, even breaking down and weeping at points that she had such a miserable daughter.

"God, I can't wait until this thing is over." Cristina muttered to Izzie, "If you would've just kept your big mouth shut, I wouldn't be dealing with this right now."

Meredith looked up from the bottom of her dress, straightening it out and snickered, "Cristina, now is not the time to threaten Izzie, you're much too pretty for that right now."

"I could kick you with these god awful shoes and probably cause a splenic laceration, which would lead to a really awesome surgery." I hissed under her breath. "Do you really want to go there?"

"So miserable." Helen stifled another sob.

Jane shoved another tissue into Helen's hand and rolled her eyes, "The dress fits." She finally acknowledged Cristina.

"It fits. It's a dress. That fits." She nodded back.

Jane gave her a nod, "Yes."

Cristina shivered slightly as she recognized one of her husband's most irritating characteristics in his mother and felt a wave of nausea crash against her stomach.

At least they were already married and she couldn't change her mind.

She watched as Jane left the fitting room, dragging Helen behind her to leave the girls to speculate and Cristina would've let out a breath, but feared that the dress may tear around her, "Why the hell do they make these damn things so uncomfortable?"

Izzie slid the zipper down her back and laughed, "Why do you think I modeled lingerie?"

Cristina stepped out of the dress and pulled her jeans on, quickly followed by her shirt and watched in silence as the seamstress zipped it up in a gargantuan garment bag. In that moment, she felt something spark within her that this was going to really happen.

That she had been forced into this huge ceremony, but that she might enjoy it.

Her heart fluttered just a little bit at the thought of dancing with Burke on a parquet floor to some ridiculously romantic music that she'd never listen to.

Or Jazz, if he had his way.

He would grasp her around the waist with one arm, pulling her close, probably be the dork that he is and hold her other hand for just a few moments until he would realize that everybody would know that she was all his now, and wrap both arms around her, enveloping her. His breath would tickle the exposed skin of her neck making her ache for so much more than a dance.

"Cristina!" Izzie's voice snapped her back to reality.

"Sorry. I was just trying to forget that I was here." She crossed her arms.

"Well, while you were trying to forget you were here, your phone rang. I'm sure it's probably your husband. Because you're too good to talk to us for a whole day without talking to him at least 3 times."

"Iz, they're planning a wedding." Meredith snapped.

Cristina brushed past her, pulling her phone from her jeans and returning Burke's call, "Yeah, baby?"

"Cristina, I've been trying to call you for 30 minute." Burke's hurried voice came over the other end of the line.

"I'm sorry, I was getting my final fitting done, by the way, I'm so going to have to talk to you about some of your habits." She protested, her mind trailing back to the face that Jane had made.

"We have a problem." 

"What's the problem? There are no problems." Cristina took in a sharp breath, wondering what could possibly go wrong.

It couldn't be any worse than maybe they had to work on the day of the ceremony so the whole thing had to be called off.

"They double booked the chapel and reception hall." His voice was hollow, and she nearly dropped her phone.

"So what, we have to push it back a couple of weeks? That's no problem. We can do that. Your mom and dad can go home, and my mom and Saul could go home and we can have a little time to ourselves." She felt the excitement building within her. This was perfect.

"Not exactly."

"What do you mean not exact...Burke. What did you do?" 

"They had a date set for the day after tomorrow that was open."

"Your point?"

"I took it." He replied firmly.

"What?" She nearly dropped her phone for a second time. "We're moving up the wedding by three days? Three days? Do you realize what that entails? We have to call people, we have to reorder things, we have to get a hold of the florists, the caterers, the baker..." She stopped herself and silently cursed herself.

"Look at who has turned into a bride." He teased on the other end of the phone.

"Okay. That wasn't funny, and now? Now I'm hanging up." She nearly snapped her phone closed and pursed her lips, "I love you."

She couldn't see the widespread grin over his face, but she heard it in his voice, "I love you too."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"This is chaos. Complete and udder chaos." Cristina muttered, her eyes trailing down the guest list, "You realize that I know like 10 of these people at best."

Burke ran his hand down her back, "We can get it organized...we can get everybody called."

"You should've just pushed it back."

"We didn't need to wait longer." He pulled the list from her hand. "Stevens." 

Izzie looked up from a pile of magazines, "Yeah, Preston?"

Jane shot a look of approval at Izzie then her eyes shifted to Cristina, her expression turning to one of disappointment.

"I need you to call everybody on this list. Tell them the wedding is the day after tomorrow, same time same place." He handed her the list "Meredith and Helen?" 

"Yeah?" Meredith answered, looking up from the list that Izzie had just recieved.

"I need you to go to the floral shop, do whatever you can to get them in line. If you have to go to another shop and get them to make up the slack do it. Take my card." He pulled out his wallet and placed a credit card in her palm.

Helen nodded towards Burke, "We will get the flowers, though it seems like they won't be as important seeing as you two are already married."

Cristina rolled her eyes at her mother, "Mom, just go help Meredith."

"Miserable." She muttered.

Gathering what Burke was trying to do, Izzie followed Meredith and Helen out of the door, "I'll help them too." She mumbled and was gone.

"Dad, Mr. Rubenstein, I need you to go pick up the tuxedos and the shoes and bring them back here. I'll call ahead to let them know that you're coming."

Cristina watched as Burke took over, organizing everything in moments where it had taken her at least an hour to even think about organizing things.

She watched as everybody disappeared from the apartment with the exception of Burke and Jane and she closed her eyes.

Why couldn't she just go away?

Cristina grabbed her keys, "What do you want me to do, Burke?"

"His name is Preston." Jane let out an exaggerated groan, "Even your friends call him Preston, everybody calls him Preston except for you." 

"Mama, can you go and handle everything with the caterers? If you have to alter the menus due to the time constraints, it is fine." Burke laid a hand gently on his mama's shoulder.

"I can do that Preston." She emphasized his first name, walking by the pair.

"Mama?" He looked at her and she turned to face him, "Yes, dear?"

"She calls me Burke. She always has. I don't want her to stop." He swallowed hard.

There were only two things in his life that he found difficult; one was admitting he was wrong, and the other was standing up to his mother, and in this moment, standing up to his mother seemed much more difficult than being able to admit he was wrong.

Jane pressed her lips together and gave a curt nod at Burke, "Whatever you want, Preston."

Cristina leaned down, her forehead to the counter as she heard the door click shut behind her and let out a long exhale, "She hates me. She totally hates me."

He leaned over her, his hand snaking around her waist and trailing across her flat stomach as he kissed the back of her shoulder, "She doesn't hate you."

She stood herself up and pushed him away, "She so hates me, and now everybody is taking care of all of this...crap or whatever, and I'm sitting here doing nothing."

"You're the bride." He offered, knowing it wasn't enough, "It's your day."

"Oh, whatever. It's your mom's day, and I totally ruined it by being me."

He pulled her close once more, "It's our day." He reached behind him into the kitchen drawer and moved his hand around until he found what he wanted.

"What are you doing?" She looked around him, but he blocked her vision.

"You have to chill out. You have to stop letting my mama get to you, and you have to promise that you're going to play nice and happy until after the whole thing is done, or I won't let you see what I have." He spoke in a low and entrancing tone.

"I'm not nice." She crossed her arms bitterly. "You know that. You married me. Your fault."

It still seemed surreal to her to even use the words marriage in reference to their relationship.

"Cristina." He urged her softly.

"Fine. I'll play nice and happy."

He placed two plane tickets in her hand, "I got the trip moved up. We leave the day after tomorrow."

"But the wedding is the day after tomorrow." She protested, scanning the tickets with her eyes.

"6 hours after it's all over. Which means that you don't have to do the reception thing for very long, and you don't have to mingle with people you don't know for very long, and it can be just you and me."

A smile traced over her face, then faded just as quickly, "But you'll be rushed...you won't be able to see your family and friends for very long."

"It's okay."

She bit her lip, her mind filled with Jane's words about her being cold and selfish and she pushed the tickets back into his hand, "I can wait to have you all to myself, because you married me and your stuck with me, and I get you to myself forever."

"Cris-"

She cut him off, "No. I don't want to leave that early. I want you to see your family and spend time with them at the reception and not worry about having to be at the airport right away. I can't do that to you...to your family. As much as I would like to see your mother leave like now, I can't do that."

He trailed his hand down the side of her face, his fingers tracing her curls, his eyes connected with hers, a smile creeping across his lips, "You don't have to change because of them. I fell in love with you for who you are."

"I'm being me, and I'm being stubborn. You're going to have to call the travel agent and fix it. You should've asked me first, just like with this whole stupid double booking thing." She muttered, trying her very best to keep a straight face.

"I'll call the travel agent in a little while." Flashing her a suggestive grin.

She sauntered toward the bedroom, "A little while?"

He followed quickly behind her, "A long while."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Helen tugged at the bottom of Cristina's skirt, "Do you have to dress like such a tramp for your rehearsal? You look like a common street walker."

Cristina brushed her mother away, irritated, "Go decorate something."

Helen shook her head, "I never imagined that my daughter would even get married, let alone have a ceremony. And when I found out that she was actually going to get married and have a ceremony and make her mother proud, you had to ruin it. Now you're telling me to go away. Can't you just make me happy for once in your miserable life?"

"No. That's the antithesis of what I'm attempting to do. I want to make you miserable." Cristina shot back sarcastically.

Well, maybe not so sarcastically.

Helen walked away, looking wounded and Cristina sighed as she pulled down the pink skirt that Burke had selected on a shopping trip, citing that she didn't wear enough girly things and he wanted her to wear something girly.

Damn him.

Jane stalked towards her, "Is everything in order here? We're ready to start the rehearsal and you seem to be having other priorities."

"Yes, Mrs. Burke, we're ready to go." She closed her eyes and re-opened them, hoping that this was all a really bad dream and that she'd wake up.

"We're ready." Meredith assured her, "Is everybody ready up front?"

"Of course they are. They're more disciplined at staying on task, obviously." Jane's words cut through Cristina's resolve.

Another trait that Burke inherited from his mother, and she began to wonder if she shouldn't have just married his _mama_ instead.

She nodded towards the front of the chapel and the audio tech put on the CD of Pachabel's Canon in D much to the disgust and disdain of Jane, who had insisted upon a string quartet, but was overruled by Cristina and her power to withhold honeymoon sex.

At least she got a say in something.

She watched as Izzie rounded the corner methodically, slowly, her body square and perfect like she was walking down a runway in slow motion and Cristina felt the urge to vomit, "Why is she so perfect?"

Meredith giggled, "Because God hates us."

Cristina chuckled and Saul appeared next to her, "So, tomorrow?"

"Yeah." She nodded, looking to him, "I appreciate you doing this. I know that you didn't have to because you're...well, you didn't have to."

Their relationship dynamic had always been different, as a little girl she always looked up to him, and he always paid a great deal of attention to her, but their relationship became strained as she grew older, coming into her own, but he always had a fondness for her that she couldn't get rid of despite her best efforts.

"You were my Cristina first." He took her arm in his, "Whether or not you would admit it, once upon a time, you were my stubborn little girl. It is my honor to give you to this man. He is decent. Honorable. And I know that he will take care of you and treat you with the utmost respect that you deserve."

"Don't get all sappy, Saul." She teased lightly, his words putting a small part of her at ease.

"My turn." Meredith pouted, "And I was getting in the moment, here."

Cristina pushed her through the door of the chapel and she stumbled forward nearly landing on her face, "Get down there so we can get this overwith."

Meredith caught her footing and shot Cristina a look, then smoothed out her own dress and began to saunter down the aisle, a cheesy grin plastered on her face.

"Are you nervous?" Saul mumbled low, his free hand coming to settle on Cristina's.

"No, it's the rehearsal. I'm not nervous." She lied through quivering breaths.

If it was this bad now, what the hell would it be like tomorrow?

Jane jerked her head at Cristina and Saul smiled, "It's your turn."

She looked at him, and noted the softness of his eyes, and the soothing tone of his voice, "Okay." she nodded lightly, "Okay."

They took the first step together down the aisle, the music building to a rapid crescendo and she rounded the corner to see Burke standing at the front of the chapel, a grin plastered across his face that could span the Pacific.

She secretly hoped that he wouldn't look like that tomorrow because it would take everything in her not to laugh at him and call him a dork.

He met Saul at the bottom of the stairs of the alter and took Cristina's hand and Saul leaned into him, attempting his best threatening father-in-law, "If you don't make her happy..." He began.

"Saul. Knock it off." She gave him a half smile.

Saul shrugged and Burke led Cristina the rest of the way up the stairs, "You look scared." He mumbled under his breath.

"I'm not scared. We're already married. How could I possibly be scared?" She protested in a whisper, "And we can talk about this later. I just want to get this overwith, okay?" 

He grasped her hand, his grin fading only slightly, "Okay."

The chaplain stood before them, doing a quick run through of the ceremony, and Cristina's eyes wandered the magnificent hall with the non-descript bluish carpeting, the wooden pews, the great walnut ceiling that towered above them, brightening the whole room.

Then her eyes fell to the rock wall behind them. Ivy and other greeneries woven throughout it and she smiled.

Though she wasn't the outdoorsy type, and she certainly wasn't the church type, this little chapel made her happy.

It was the only one that made her happy when they looked at it.

"Do you guys want to do a run through of the vows?" The chaplain smiled at them, folding his hands in front of him.

"Vows?" Cristina questioned, her heart sinking in her chest, "Um, mine are a surprise, and I don't want to read them right now."

Burke looked at Cristina and frowned, "You forgot."

"I didn't forget."

"You forgot to write them."

"Yeah, well it wasn't exactly on my list of things to do seeing the events that we've already been through this week. Particularly an early morning drive that you took me on." She hissed at him, getting frustrated with herself.

Burke clenched his jaw and looked to the Chaplain, "We'll just do them tomorrow. No need to go over them now."

"Then, we'll go on to the part, where I pronounce you man and wife, and you can kiss your bride." The chaplain shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what to do with the couple sitting in front of him.

Burke pulled Cristina close as if he was going to kiss her and she put her hands on his chest, "What the hell do you think you're doing? It's not the day of the wedding, and you certainly don't need practice at kissing me."

"You're being particularly trying today, you realize this?" He whispered at her, taking note of the chaplain and everybody else leaving their side.

"I am not."

"Then kiss me."

She looked at him, her mouth open in protest, then pressed her lips together, "I don't see why it's necessary right now."

He paused for a moment, and tried to remember every kiss they'd ever shared, and not one in his memory had been in front of another living soul, with the exception of Meredith and Derek, and that was hardly a kiss. Suddenly, he realized her dilemma. "You don't want to kiss me in front of everyone, do you?"

"Did I say that? You're putting words in my mouth that I didn't say." She argued, angry that he'd figured out what she was thinking.

"Then kiss me."

She took a deep breath and pressed her lips against his in what was meant to be a very quick kiss until he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer, which was quite effective in turning her on as he knew all too well, and she found herself not wanting to pull away.

The kiss ended at she looked at him, sensing that he too was more than a little pleased with the kiss and she gave him a cocky grin, "Guess it's too bad that we have to go to dinner right now."

"Cristina." He chided lightly, though she was telling the truth.

They strode back down the aisle together and heard Meredith and Izzie giggling wildly, "I so thought that she was going to take her skirt off right there."

"Not funny." Cristina elbowed Izzie in the side.

"Well, it was the skirt was coming off or you were going to wrap your leg around him. That was hot. It even turned me on."

"Really?" Derek's ears perked up upon hearing that Meredith might be slightly turned on.

"Shut up, McDreamy." Cristina muttered, "Now is so not the time or the place. This thing we're standing it? It's a church."

"Shouldn't your skin be burning then, Yang?" Karev chimed in, joining the group.

"It's Burke." Jane replied to his comment coldly.

Oh. Shit. The only two words running through Cristina's mind in that moment.

"Awww...you're taking your boyfriend's last name." Alex mocked her, "It's almost nauseating."

"It's her husband's last name." Jane pressed.

Burke took her under the arm, "Mama, why don't we come over here and look at these flower arrangements, I want you to be sure they look like the ones from the original floral shop."

She shot Cristina a look and followed him away from the grouping, leaving her to do damage control from her comments.

"So, who's hungry?" She flashed a false grin, "We have reservations and we need to hurry up and get there so they'll hold the table."

"He's such a mama's boy." Alex scoffed, heading towards the door, "And as for the secret, Yang...I mean, Burke. Whatever. It's not like everybody in the hospital doesn't know."

"Alex!" Izzie hissed.

"You told Izzie." George joined the group, momentarily removing himself from Burke's side. "Izzie keeps no secrets."

"Izzie. Why am I not surprised? Look...can we just go?" Cristina brought her hand to her temple to massage the oncoming headache away.

"Oh, I was going to ask if you need a place to stay tonight?" Meredith answered, a puzzled look on her face, "Sorry. That was a bit out of place."

"Why would I need a place to stay? I have an apartment, remember?" Cristina questioned, afraid of where it was going.

"It's bad luck to see the bride the night before the wedding." Izzie sighed, "Don't you know any of the traditions?"

"Well, considering the fact that I should've slept somewhere else a week ago, I guess that doesn't matter."

Jane and Burke made it back to the group and Jane smiled politely at Meredith, "Thank you for the offer dear, but Cristina will be staying with me tonight. Donald and Preston can stay at the apartment."

Cristina nearly choked on her saliva, "Mrs. Burke, really, it's not necessary."

"Oh, but it is. I want to get to know my daughter-in-law before she gets married to my son. Again."

Cristina shot Burke a pleading look, begging with her eyes to get him out of this, but he cleared his throat and looked the other way.

"I hate to cause so much trouble. That's a lot of trouble to rearrange the sleeping arrangements, I'm sure." Cristina continued, trying her very best to worm her way out of this nightmare.

"Not at all, Cristina. Meredith and Izzie can gather your things after dinner and you and I can stop by the reception hall to make sure that everything is in order before we go back to the hotel room for a good night's rest." Her voice was dripping with a pleasant venom that made Cristina shiver.

She let out a long sigh, "It sounds like you've already got everything figured out, how could I say no?"

As they left the chapel, Cristina looked over it one more time, wondering if she'd live through the night to make it to her own 'wedding'.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Cristina shifted uncomfortably as she sat in her bed in Jane's hotel room, watching her phone, waiting for it to ring and break the silence.

Waiting for it to ring so she could run into the bathroom and tell Burke how much she hated him in this moment.

"Are you going to stare at your phone all night Cristina? Or are you going to attempt to do something productive, like preparing everything you need for tomorrow?" Jane glared at her from across the room.

"My stuff is ready." She sighed.

"It's hardly organized. I don't know how Preston can live with you, being so disorganized. He's not the type that likes things to get messy."

"I know. I live with him." Cristina replied dryly.

"Correction, you're married to him."

Cristina rose from her spot on the bed and walked quietly to Jane, her eyes never losing focus. She couldn't take her words anymore, "I am married to your son. And he loves me. And though it might seem like we have a weird relationship to you, and it might seem weird to you that I'm not all dependent and submissive and ready to bear children in 9 months, we have a good relationship."

"You're selfish."

"I'm selfish. I'm stubborn. I'm sloppy. He loves me for all of those things." She continued, "And you might not be so sloppy, but I think the reason that you hate me so much is that you know that I won't ever go anywhere. This thing, that we have? The stuff that we've been through, we've worked it out. And I'm not going anywhere. Get used to it."

A wicked smile crossed Jane's lips, "About the stuff you've gone through. That reminds me. Why don't we talk about this baby that seems to be forgotten?"

Cristina rolled her eyes and walked back to the bed, plopping down ungracefully on it's side, "There's nothing to talk about."

"So my son's child is nothing to talk about?"

Cristina pulled her knees to her chest, and rested her forehead on them, "Fine. Whatever. What do you want to know, if it means that you'll just lay off, what the hell do you want to know?" She muttered in to her knees.

"Where is it?"

"Izzie already said that I had...it...miscarriage." She finally mumbled, stumbling over the words. The words 'I had a miscarriage' seemed too painful, even if she had planned to have an abortion.

"Why wasn't I told about this child?" She pressed, examining Cristina with an icy cold stare.

"Because it was a long time ago." Cristina felt as if she were under interrogation, as if she had done something wrong that deserved a lengthy and torturous sentence.

Or maybe this was the sentence.

"A long time ago? It can't have possibly been that long ago considering the fact that you decided to move in with Preston so quickly."

Cristina looked up, her lips pursed in anger, "Is that what you think? That I moved in on him?"

"Well, my son is attractive and very wealthy, though he lives well below his means, so I can only assume that the original reason that you decided to pursue a relationship has a lot more to do with money rather than love." Jane shot at her coldly.

"I think you know that after the things that I've stayed with him through it's not about the money."

"A lost child, I can understand. Especially if you didn't want it in the first place, and I'm sure that you didn't." Another cut. "The shooting, I don't know if I quite understood your motives, and as far as the deceit you pulled him into at work--"

"We made bad decisions." Cristina interrupted, looking at her, "Together, we made bad decisions."

"Before you, my Preston never made bad decisions."

"Before me, _Burke_ was a cocky and arrogant asshole that nobody liked. Before _Burke_, I was a cocky and arrogant bitch that nobody liked." Cristina paused, taking personal satisfaction at seeing her flinch under her harsh vocabulary, "Things happened. We met. We changed. He changed me for the better, and I think if you were to ask some of the doctors at Seattle Grace which _Burke_ they'd rather have, I think they'd agree that they'd want the one that's with me."

Cristina reached upwards and flipped off the lamp between the two of them before Jane could protest, "I need sleep if I'm walking down the aisle tomorrow. _Burke_ wouldn't want me to fall asleep during the ceremony, reception or the sex that we're going to have afterwards."

She listened quietly as she heard Jane scuffle around the room, muttering things to herself and finally lie down in bed.

Cristina smiled to herself.

She had won the war.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Cristina paced nervously with Saul, Meredith and Izzie outside the sealed doors of the chapel, her wild curls tickling her bare shoulders.

"I can't believe you didn't have your hair done." Izzie dragged on, "That's such a pretty dress, and you don't have your hair done." 

"It's done. The sides are pinned back and it's done." Cristina muttered back at her, "Besides, Burke likes it down. That's all that matters." 

The doors opened and Cristina heard the music start and she became nauseated.

"That's me." Izzie flashed a grin and started down the aisle.

"I wish somebody would trip her."

"Cristina!" Meredith hissed, "That's not nice...now...do you have everything? The ring, the vows." 

"Vows." Cristina's skin turned to the shade of her dress.

"You didn't write the vows." Meredith. remarked, an observation rather than a statement. "I hope you're creative."

Saul grabbed Cristina's arm and took her towards the doorway as Meredith disappeared and looked at her with soft and loving eyes, "You're beautiful."

"And nervous. And vow-less."

"You'll know what to say." He assured her, "You'll get up there, everybody else will fade away, and you'll know what to say."

The crescendo where she was to make her entrance arrived and she felt herself being pulled forward slowly at first, then she began to take the steps on her own. The crowd of people gathered rose blocking her view of Burke until she could round the corner.

And there he was, still smiling, but a finer smile, not the cheesy grin he wore yesterday, and immediately she connected her eyes with his, trying to avoid the gazes of everybody else.

She was so wrapped up in him, that before she knew it, she was placed at his side, and Saul was gone, and only her and Burke were there. It was as Saul had said. The attendants, the guests, the music, it all faded away and all she saw was him.

The word vows snapped her back to reality.

"Cristina, are you ready to read your vows?" The old man smiled, a twinkle in his eye and she flashed a false grin at him, "Yeah...um."

She slid her eyes over to the microphone for just a moment, and realized that it was entirely too close for her to make an admission that she hadn't written any to Burke.

So it was time for her to BS her way through it.

He caught her eye before she opened her mouth and she knew that he knew and she gave him the slightest of nods, while he stifled a look of disappointment.

The chaplain looked to her, whispering low, "Cristina...your vows."

"Yeah, I'm getting there." She hissed back as low as possible. She looked back to Burke and took a deep breath, "You know that I'm not good at saying the things that I want to say, especially when it comes to how I feel...about you and...us." She paused, trying to find the words, "But you know, that I...love you. And that I always will. And the rest is just details."

Burke smiled widely, never expecting any more or any less from his Cristina and began to read off his vows, of course irritatingly memorized and perfect, and she wished that for once he wouldn't have it so together, but then again, that was why she fell in love with him.

After the vows were read, it came time for the rings as Cristina swallowed nervously, taking Burke's ring from Meredith, she held out her hand as they repeated the words that they had never uttered before.

"With this ring, I thee wed." Burke whispered low and soft, sliding the ring on her finger, she glanced down at the simple gold band and her face lit up.

"It's perfect." She mumbled.

"Cristina, place the ring on Preston's left ring finger, and repeat after me, 'With this ring, I thee wed.'"

She slid the gold band over his finger, and was amused by the fact that it was trembling slightly, he was nervous too.

"With this ring, I thee wed."

They clasped hands as the chaplain read the final words, making it all official all over again.

"By the power vested in me by the state of Washington, I now pronounce you man and wife." He announced to the church, a smile painted upon his lips, then turned to Burke, "You may now kiss your bride."

"You hear that?" She joked lightly, "I'm your bride."

He wrapped his lower arm tightly around her waist and pulled her close, his other hand sliding under her loose curls and their lips met without reserve in a kiss that lasted way longer than any kiss should for a wedding.

Though Cristina couldn't see it, she could only imagine the expression painted painfully on Jane's face in that moment and she kissed Burke just a little longer for that.

When they broke away the music began to play and as soon as it had started it was all over, and they were on their way back down the aisle, together. Officially officially married, as Izzie would call it.

"You forgot your vows." He mumbled once they arrived outside the chapel doors, pulling her close again.

"You're hot in a tux." She mumbled back, her finger tracing agonizing patterns on his lapel.

"You're beautiful, Mrs. Burke." He kissed her forehead, his fingers absently tracing through her curls.

"You're strange, Mr. Burke. And technically, it's Dr. Burke. Just so you know." She smiled, and reached up to brush her lips against his one more time.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Cristina's eyes ached at the sight of balloons and tulle and flowers and her hears hurt from the happy music and the happy people, and she secretly wished that somebody would collapse and need emergency surgery.

Not that she worked today, but it'd be better than this.

Burke snaked his arm around her waist as she looked around stupified by all the shiny things and sighed, "We won't be here for long...just a few hours."

"In just a few hours I could watch a CABG, a triple A repair, or a valve replacement, and it'd be much less painful than this." She muttered.

"Then dance with me, and it won't be so painful." He brushed his lips against her ear as he whispered to her, his breath tickling her neck.

"What if I can't dance?" She teased.

"I think we both know that's a lie." His mouth still painfully close to her neck and she brought her shoulder's up as she shivered lightly.

"Fine. Just one. But none of that crap where the dance floor is all ours or whatever."

She let him lead her across the floor and he wrapped both of his arms around her small waist, their bodies pressed together. She could make out the feeling of him tracing patterns on her back with his fingers through the heavy satin and she shivered again in his grasp, "We still have a few hours and you're already pulling those tricks?"

"Just trying to keep you interested." He assured her, as they moved together to the music, their bodies aching for one and other.

"So, the vow thing, I'm sorry...my mind was elsewhere last night."

"They were perfect." He kissed her. "I couldn't have asked for any more."

She smiled at him, knowing that it was the truth.

"Preston?" Jane's voice that tore through Cristina's happy moment with an irritatingly faked pleasantness.

"Mama." He smiled, looking to her in question.

"I just wanted to borrow Cristina for a moment, if it's okay with you." She looked to him, putting forward her best performance, "Then you owe me a dance."

"Of course, mama."

Cristina made a face at Burke as he was drug away and he shrugged his shoulders, though her spot was soon replaced by her mother and she was even more irritated than when Jane pulled her away.

"Cristina..." She began.

"I know. I forgot to write down my vows, I'm sorry. I ruined the wedding or whatever."

"You make him happy. You're stubborn, you're cold, your messy and you're selfish, but you make him happy. That doesn't mean that I like you any more or less, and it certainly doesn't mean that I'm ecstatic about your marriage before the ceremony, but as long as you continue to make my son happy, and you never hurt him, I can live with you." She forced out from between her narrowed lips.

Cristina's gaze shifted for a moment to see Donald a few feet away and she smiled at him with her eyes, knowing in her heart that he was the one who forced her to say the words, "Mrs. Burke. I love...Preston. And I'm happy that you can accept that."

"Well, at least we've come to an agreement." She nodded and walked away, leaving Cristina to ponder everything for just a moment.

She had Burke.

She was married.

And she was still her.

Burke came behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and tucking his chin in between her shoulders and neck, "What was that about?"

"Nothing." She spun around to face him. "We just came to an agreement that she would continue to make me miserable for the rest of my life as long as I made you happy for the rest of yours."

"And?"

She glanced over to Jane, then back to Burke and slid her hands around until they met behind his neck, "I guess I'm going to be miserable for the rest of my life."

-DONE.


End file.
